NAME
----
-git-rev-parse - Pick out and massage parameters.
+git-rev-parse - Pick out and massage parameters
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-Many git Porcelainish commands take mixture of flags
+Many git porcelainish commands take mixture of flags
(i.e. parameters that begin with a dash '-') and parameters
meant for underlying `git-rev-list` command they use internally
and flags and parameters for other commands they use as the
`git-diff-\*`).
--not::
- When showing object names, prefix them with '^' and
- strip '^' prefix from the object names that already have
+ When showing object names, prefix them with '{caret}' and
+ strip '{caret}' prefix from the object names that already have
one.
--symbolic::
Usually the object names are output in SHA1 form (with
- possible '^' prefix); this option makes them output in a
+ possible '{caret}' prefix); this option makes them output in a
form as close to the original input as possible.
--all::
Show all refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs`.
+--branches::
+ Show branch refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads`.
+
+--tags::
+ Show tag refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags`.
+
+--remotes::
+ Show tag refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes`.
+
--show-prefix::
- When the command is invoked from a directory show the
+ When the command is invoked from a subdirectory, show the
path of the current directory relative to the top-level
directory.
+--show-cdup::
+ When the command is invoked from a subdirectory, show the
+ path of the top-level directory relative to the current
+ directory (typically a sequence of "../", or an empty string).
+
+--git-dir::
+ Show `$GIT_DIR` if defined else show the path to the .git directory.
+
+--short, --short=number::
+ Instead of outputting the full SHA1 values of object names try to
+ abbreviate them to a shorter unique name. When no length is specified
+ 7 is used. The minimum length is 4.
+
+--since=datestring, --after=datestring::
+ Parses the date string, and outputs corresponding
+ --max-age= parameter for git-rev-list command.
+
+--until=datestring, --before=datestring::
+ Parses the date string, and outputs corresponding
+ --min-age= parameter for git-rev-list command.
+
<args>...::
Flags and parameters to be parsed.
SPECIFYING REVISIONS
--------------------
-A revision parameter typically names a commit object. They use
-what is called an 'extended SHA1' syntax.
+A revision parameter typically, but not necessarily, names a
+commit object. They use what is called an 'extended SHA1'
+syntax. Here are various ways to spell object names. The
+ones listed near the end of this list are to name trees and
+blobs contained in a commit.
* The full SHA1 object name (40-byte hexadecimal string), or
a substring of such that is unique within the repository.
name the same commit object if there are no other object in
your repository whose object name starts with dae86e.
+* An output from `git-describe`; i.e. a closest tag, followed by a
+ dash, a `g`, and an abbreviated object name.
+
* A symbolic ref name. E.g. 'master' typically means the commit
object referenced by $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/master. If you
happen to have both heads/master and tags/master, you can
- explicitly say 'heads/master' to tell GIT which one you mean.
+ explicitly say 'heads/master' to tell git which one you mean.
+ When ambiguous, a `<name>` is disambiguated by taking the
+ first match in the following rules:
-* A suffix '^' to a revision parameter means the first parent of
- that commit object. '^<n>' means the <n>th parent (i.e.
- 'rev^'
- is equivalent to 'rev^1'). As a special rule,
- 'rev^0' means the commit itself and is used when 'rev' is the
+ . if `$GIT_DIR/<name>` exists, that is what you mean (this is usually
+ useful only for `HEAD`, `FETCH_HEAD` and `MERGE_HEAD`);
+
+ . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/<name>` if exists;
+
+ . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<name>` if exists;
+
+ . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<name>` if exists;
+
+ . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/<name>` if exists;
+
+ . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` if exists.
+
+* A ref followed by the suffix '@' with a date specification
+ enclosed in a brace
+ pair (e.g. '\{yesterday\}', '\{1 month 2 weeks 3 days 1 hour 1
+ second ago\}' or '\{1979-02-26 18:30:00\}') to specify the value
+ of the ref at a prior point in time. This suffix may only be
+ used immediately following a ref name and the ref must have an
+ existing log ($GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>).
+
+* A suffix '{caret}' to a revision parameter means the first parent of
+ that commit object. '{caret}<n>' means the <n>th parent (i.e.
+ 'rev{caret}'
+ is equivalent to 'rev{caret}1'). As a special rule,
+ 'rev{caret}0' means the commit itself and is used when 'rev' is the
object name of a tag object that refers to a commit object.
-* A suffix '~<n>' to a revision parameter means the commit
+* A suffix '{tilde}<n>' to a revision parameter means the commit
object that is the <n>th generation grand-parent of the named
commit object, following only the first parent. I.e. rev~3 is
- equivalent to rev^^^ which is equivalent to rev^1^1^1.
-
-'git-rev-parse' also accepts a prefix '^' to revision parameter,
-which is passed to 'git-rev-list'. Two revision parameters
-concatenated with '..' is a short-hand for writing a range
-between them. I.e. 'r1..r2' is equivalent to saying '^r1 r2'
-
+ equivalent to rev{caret}{caret}{caret} which is equivalent to
+ rev{caret}1{caret}1{caret}1. See below for a illustration of
+ the usage of this form.
+
+* A suffix '{caret}' followed by an object type name enclosed in
+ brace pair (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{commit\}`) means the object
+ could be a tag, and dereference the tag recursively until an
+ object of that type is found or the object cannot be
+ dereferenced anymore (in which case, barf). `rev{caret}0`
+ introduced earlier is a short-hand for `rev{caret}\{commit\}`.
+
+* A suffix '{caret}' followed by an empty brace pair
+ (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{\}`) means the object could be a tag,
+ and dereference the tag recursively until a non-tag object is
+ found.
+
+* A suffix ':' followed by a path; this names the blob or tree
+ at the given path in the tree-ish object named by the part
+ before the colon.
+
+* A colon, optionally followed by a stage number (0 to 3) and a
+ colon, followed by a path; this names a blob object in the
+ index at the given path. Missing stage number (and the colon
+ that follows it) names an stage 0 entry.
+
+Here is an illustration, by Jon Loeliger. Both node B and C are
+a commit parents of commit node A. Parent commits are ordered
+left-to-right.
+
+ G H I J
+ \ / \ /
+ D E F
+ \ | / \
+ \ | / |
+ \|/ |
+ B C
+ \ /
+ \ /
+ A
+
+ A = = A^0
+ B = A^ = A^1 = A~1
+ C = A^2 = A^2
+ D = A^^ = A^1^1 = A~2
+ E = B^2 = A^^2
+ F = B^3 = A^^3
+ G = A^^^ = A^1^1^1 = A~3
+ H = D^2 = B^^2 = A^^^2 = A~2^2
+ I = F^ = B^3^ = A^^3^
+ J = F^2 = B^3^2 = A^^3^2
+
+
+SPECIFYING RANGES
+-----------------
+
+History traversing commands such as `git-log` operate on a set
+of commits, not just a single commit. To these commands,
+specifying a single revision with the notation described in the
+previous section means the set of commits reachable from that
+commit, following the commit ancestry chain.
+
+To exclude commits reachable from a commit, a prefix `{caret}`
+notation is used. E.g. "`{caret}r1 r2`" means commits reachable
+from `r2` but exclude the ones reachable from `r1`.
+
+This set operation appears so often that there is a shorthand
+for it. "`r1..r2`" is equivalent to "`{caret}r1 r2`". It is
+the difference of two sets (subtract the set of commits
+reachable from `r1` from the set of commits reachable from
+`r2`).
+
+A similar notation "`r1\...r2`" is called symmetric difference
+of `r1` and `r2` and is defined as
+"`r1 r2 --not $(git-merge-base --all r1 r2)`".
+It it the set of commits that are reachable from either one of
+`r1` or `r2` but not from both.
+
+Two other shorthands for naming a set that is formed by a commit
+and its parent commits exists. `r1{caret}@` notation means all
+parents of `r1`. `r1{caret}!` includes commit `r1` but excludes
+its all parents.
+
+Here are a handful examples:
+
+ D A B D
+ D F A B C D F
+ ^A G B D
+ ^A F B C F
+ G...I C D F G I
+ ^B G I C D F G I
+ F^@ A B C
+ F^! H D F H
Author
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